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GVK Sky Tower is the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower at the Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. This iconic structure is the tallest in Mumbai, with a roof at 84m above ground. The tower combines aesthetic designs with stringent traffic control requirements.
Arup provided structural engineering, geotechnics, civil engineering, building services engineering, facade engineering and acoustic consulting services for the ATC tower. The main challenges for Arup were to shoehorn the 84m tall tower with all associated services including a technical block and a mechanical plant building (a total of 3,641 m²) onto the 2,884m² site, then marrying them with a competition winning design concept and satisfying the functional demands of air traffic control.
The sloping skirts are present primarily as an architectural feature, but also break up the air flow around the tower, reducing the wind-induced vibrations. As a result, control of vibrations was achieved without the use of dampers.
Building Information Modelling (BIM)
Structural modelling and documentation was carried out in Autodesk Revit Structure, which is BIM-focussed software. Model data was transferred over to structural analysis software (Oasys GSA and CSi ETABS, which both have links to Revit) for design. Revit models were exchanged with the architect HOK and were used to produce the drawing deliverables, which is critical for the design of such a complex structure.
The tower design was one of the five winners of the Autodesk Hong Kong BIM Awards 2009, an industry-recognised award held by Autodesk Hong Kong.
